The Democratic Party’s branding woes get worse

There’s been a lot said and written since the 2024 elections about the “Democratic Party brand” and how (and if) party leaders could turn things around after such devastating losses, with Republicans winning the presidency, retaking control of the Senate and retaining the House of Representatives.

Going into Election Day, Democrats thought they had a winning candidate with Vice President Kamala Harris and a winning message: Donald Trump is evil, abortion rights must be codified at the federal level, criminal illegal immigrants must be allowed to stay, men should be allowed to play in women’s sports as long as they identify as women, and tax the rich.

None of it worked, which sent Democrats scrambling to figure out what went wrong. I mean, they spent eight years vilifying Trump, even going so far as to engage in blatant lawfare, and yet he was the one left standing and victorious. How could that have happened?

From the looks of things, eight months into Trump’s second term, Democrats are still trying to figure it out.

Though they remain united when it comes to opposing Trump, there are divisions elsewhere, with some factions saying the party should be focused more on kitchen table issues and not fighting for soft-on-crime policies, illegal immigrants, transgender rights, and the restoration of their diversity, equity and inclusion priorities (though the Supreme Court may have a little something to say on the latter).

Others, however, remain committed to all of the above and more, and beyond that, are fighting to maintain the bloated bureaucracy and status quo in Washington, D.C., that benefits entrenched politicians, not the people.

Not surprisingly, the lack of unity and failure to establish a clear direction heading into the 2026 midterms has left the leaderless Democratic Party in dire straits from a political standpoint, with polling consistently showing them in the basement with voters.

For instance, a recent Wall Street Journal headline declared “Democrats Get Lowest Rating From Voters in 35 Years, WSJ Poll Finds,” and their subhead noted “Republicans (are) preferred on most issues that decide elections despite unease with Trump over the economy, tariffs, and foreign policy.”

The money quote came from Democrat pollster John Anzalone, who observed that the party’s “brand is so bad that they don’t have the credibility to be a critic of Trump or the Republican Party.”

And in a mid-July segment on CNN, the network’s chief data analyst, Harry Enten, said, “At this particular point, this election cycle looks a lot more like 2024 than it does then either 2018 or 2006,” where Democrats did very well in the midterm elections.

“And so, of course, Republicans actually held onto the House back in 2024. Will it happen this time around? We’ll just have to wait and see,” Enten added.

Undoubtedly, both parties are gearing up for a major battle, with Democrats continuing to lean in on the “Orange Man Bad” narrative, while Republicans stick with Trump as he plays hardball with congressional Democrats, judicial activists, world leaders and the mainstream media.

Which message will resonate with voters? It’s hard to say at this point. But one thing that’s for sure is that if Democrats are still underwater with voters at this stage despite all the mud they’ve thrown at Trump over the last several months, the months leading up to November 2026 are going to be an uphill climb.

As Anzalone said in response to The Wall Street Journal poll, “Until (Democrats) reconnect with real voters and working people on who they’re for and what their economic message is, they’re going to have problems.”

In my view, that is unlikely to change anytime soon, as Democrats seem hellbent on clinging to the sinking ship of failed ideas, bless their hearts.

North Carolina native Stacey Matthews has also written under the pseudonym Sister Toldjah and is a media analyst and regular contributor to RedState and Legal Insurrection.